Birthday coming up...

[RamblinE]

And of course I want to treat yo'self to something.

Picking up the outstanding NAD 5120 floppy armed turntable off of Craigslist the other week has taken the wind out of my sails for buying a new entry level table. This thing is seriously cool. I was able to swap a Grado Green stylus into the vintage Grado MF3 body it came with and it's been good vinyl listening ever since.

When I was still using an AT92E on this table I was thinking about getting a Nagoaka MP100. Then I got the a Grado working for me and don't feel like I need to upgrade the cartridge until I can afford something over a hundred dollars. I think I actually like the way that the MF3 sounds compared to my Prestige cartridge. For one thing I'm not getting the same sibilance with the stylus in the MF3 that I was with it in the Prestige. While the Prestige has warmer lows the MF3 seems to roll off the highs a little less, roll off the lows a lot more, and just concentrate on buttery smooth midrange. While I'm using minimonitors on my desk that's probably a good way to go...

So the way things are going I'm wondering if I should take the bare hundred dollar budget I set for myself for my birthday and get either an 8mz stylus for the Grado or a Spinclean Machine for my records.

What would you do?

 

[Ths364]

I'd say the cleaner. Yeah, I'd rather have a new stylus too, but would rather not worry about screwing it up with dirty vinyl, or have the "detail" that ends up being extracted from the groove be surface noise instead of music.

 

[boreas]

So the way things are going I'm wondering if I should take the bare hundred dollar budget I set for myself for my birthday and get either an 8mz stylus for the Grado or a Spinclean Machine for my records.

What would you do?

I'd say the cleaner. Yeah, I'd rather have a new stylus too, but would rather not worry about screwing it up with dirty vinyl, or have the "detail" that ends up being extracted from the groove be surface noise instead of music.

Me, I'd say the stylus. There are methods for hand-washing vinyl that are equivalent to what a Spinclean does and they're essentially free: using paint pads or microfiber towels for washing (parallel to the grooves, clockwise and counter-clockwise, just like the Spinclean instructions, drying thoroughly with a microfiber towel, again clockwise and counterclockwise, and then a final air dry in a dedicated dish rack.

And don't worry about the labels. They aren't damaged by getting a little wet. Just don't scrub them. Just blot them dry when you're done with washing and rinsing.

John